


A Well Deserved Rest

by ROOMBA_FIERCE



Series: Bravely Second- World War Edition [2]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Ba'al Busters, F/M, Fluff, World War AU, future worries, lots of fluff, references to death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 15:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17942759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ROOMBA_FIERCE/pseuds/ROOMBA_FIERCE
Summary: The Empire has retreated, and soon enough, Agnès and her crew will be relieved and reassigned. No one knows what this means, but everyone is thinking about it, even when they're trying not to. But, for a little while, the six will enjoy their break from the war.(now edited)





	A Well Deserved Rest

Agnès could almost sing. She hadn't seen a pointed helmet in more than a week, and there hadn't been a single shell fired in their direction in two. It seemed the Empire had retreated to their stronghold in Hartschild.

Agnès had express orders not to follow them, or even cross the Eisen Bridge, for fear that the Empire's retreat was a feint to draw her away and take the bridge. Agnès had no problems following that order. It had been a little less than a month since Magnolia had destroyed the Ba'al, and it had been a month of hard fighting, right up until the Empire had fallen back. 

The Ba'al's wreckage had provided ample cover, and despite a promised resupply, Agnès and her men had run dangerously low on ammunition and grenades. She was ready for a break, and when it came, she was all too happy to sit back and relax.

She wasn't the only one. Tiz, who'd gotten shot twice on two separate occasions had said that if he had to stay at the damn bridge any longer, he'd find a way to just blow the thing up.

Luckily, it seemed they wouldn't have too. Agnès had received word that a full division would be replacing her and her men, and that all of them would be recalled to Yunohana and receive new orders there. What that really meant, Agnès wasn’t sure of, and it scared her a little bit. Magnolia was a Ba'al Buster, whatever that meant, Ringabel was his own brand of special forces, and Tiz, Edea, and Yew were in a different division than Agnès.

They'd talked about it a little, but oftentimes those conversations would end too quickly, and none of them would find any real answers. So they did what they could. The six enjoyed their brief respite from the war. Agnès had seen Magnolia and Yew curled up in one of Goodman's bunkers, Yew fast asleep tucked into the taller woman's side, Magnolia running a hand through his hair and humming. Edea and Ringabel were nowhere to be seen, but they'd calmed down after the first few times the pair had hooked up, and Agnès was fairly certain they both had their clothes on.

For her part, Agnès had found the tallest tower she could still climb, and was now sitting on the roof of it, looking out to the Empires side of Harena. Tiz had joined her not moments ago, and for a second, he didn't speak.

"I'd be prettier," he said, "if we weren't at war." 

He was right of course. Scars from spent shells and abandoned trenches little red the land in front of them, remnants of the frantic fighting that had taken place before the Empire had taken the entirety of southern Harena. Still, there was something about this land she'd always loved. It was nothing compared to Ancheim, and the deserts of her homeland, of course, but still...

"Maybe we can come back here, one day." Agnès said. "Get to see this place without worrying if someone is going to shoot us."

Tiz smiled at that. “Just have to survive the war then.” He said. “No big deal.”

Agnès rolled her eyes. “Don’t sound too excited.” She said. 

“Sorry, it’s just…” Tiz shrugged. “I’ve gotten used to being here, with you, and Mag, and everyone else. Crystal’s only know where we’re going to end up next.”

“I could request a transfer to your division.” Agnès said. “It’d take time, but we could still be together.”

Tiz nodded. “Do you think command will keep us together? All of us?” He asked.

Agnès was silent for a moment. The honest answer would be no, but when she thought about Yew’s dash to save Magnolia, and the way Edea had gotten so protective of Ringabel, she couldn’t give it. “We’ll all have a say in it, I think.” She said. “Hell, they might let us form our own unit. We deserve it.”

Tiz was silent for a long moment, and Agnès wondered if he could tell she was lying to both of them. “I almost wish we could just, stay here. Stay together.” He said.

Agnès stood, reaching over to Tiz, and pulling him into a hug. “We’ll figure it out.” She said softly. “We always do.”

\------------------------------------------------

Across the bridge, Edea and Ringabel were having a blast. They’d gone to the Empire’s side a few times, once to check if they’d really gone, and another three times to scavenge. They’d come back with extra ammunition, a nice pistol, and a handful of grenades. 

This time, though, they were going to have fun. On their last trip over, they’d found the entrance to the old aqueduct system that ran under the bridge. The one on their side had collapsed early into the fighting, and no one had wanted to chance breaking it open. Commander Goodman had been convinced the Empire would use it to attack, and Agnès hadn’t had the men nor the resources to invest in opening a potential weakness in her defences.

Now that the Empire was gone though… Edea and Ringabel could have some fun. They wound up playing a dangerous game of tag, jumping over gaps in the floors and crawling through pipes made to carry water that had dried up long ago. Agnès would kill them if she ever found out what they were doing, especially since they’d just gotten out of danger, but the pair were bored.

Magnolia had called them adrenaline junkies once, after they’d pulled of an insanely dangerous move to flank a handful of Empiric soldiers in the later days of fighting. She never told them to stop though, mainly because neither of them ever messed up, and their luck never seemed to run out. So Edea and Ringabel kept pushing it. 

It had come to a head a few weeks before the battle with the Ba’al. Ringabel had gotten shot up pretty badly, and Edea had a broken leg and a knife in her side. Agnès had threatened to send them back to Yunohana if they couldn’t follow orders and not throw themselves headfirst at whatever danger they found.

The two had missed a fair few skirmishes after that. But when they got out, they’d calmed down, if only a little. They follow orders, they didn’t pull stupid stunts. Even so, they both felt the itch of boredom. So they found ways to blow off steam. At first, it had been through their budding relationship.  _ Just sex, _ they’d said. That was it.  _ It’s nothing, _ they said, when Agnès found them cuddling under a blanket.  _ Hey, I might have a thing for Ringabel, _ Edea had said to Tiz, who’d told her she was the last person to figure it out.

Things had moved on from there. They’d calmed down a little after Agnès had walked in on them for the third time. But, again, they felt that itch of boredom. So they found a way to deal with it. They crossed the bridge and let Agnès pretend she didn’t see -though they did make a gift of the pistol to her.

Things were good. They didn’t know how long that would last, but for then…

Things were good.

\------------------------------

Magnolia was distinctly nervous. The bridge had only one working radio left on their side, and everyone knew where it was. The call she needed to make had to be done privately, so she had waited for Yew to drift off, Edea and Ringabel to go on one of their unsanctioned jaunts across the bridge, and Tiz and Agnès to retreat to one of their usual haunts.

But still, she was nervous.

“Magnolia Arch to Appleberry, over.” She all but whispered into the radio, waiting for a response.

“Arch, this is Appleberry, over.” The vice-admiral Appleberry responded. He was the founder and commander of the Ba’al Busters. “Requesting status update.”

“Ready for battle. One Ba’al destroyed, many men injured. Position is weak, but morale is high.” Magnolia took a breath. “Request permission to draft four infantry men and one special forces officer into a scouting division, over.”

There was a long pause. “Repeat, Arch. Over.” Appleberry demanded. Magnolia did, and this time she gave her reasoning. It was a fairly good idea, for the most part. Ba’al’s couldn’t travel far, not efficiently, and especially not over the rugged terrain that comprised the Empire’s half of Harena. That meant that more likely than not, there was a Ba’al depot nearby.

That bepot could be a serious thorn in the side of any allied offensive, so taking it out would be a high priority for the Ba’al Busters. But to hit it, they’d need to find it, and that could cause a whole snare of problems for even a special forces team. Odds were that they would find it too late, and the empire would be able to return to the Eisen bridge and lock the allies in another deadly stalemate. But if Magnolia could go out, with some support, she might be able to find and mark it, allowing a team to strike as soon as they arrived.

“Arch, the mission will be unsupported, do you understand. Over.” Appleberry asked. Essentially, beyond what they would bring with them across the bridge, they would get no help. If they messed up, they died.

“Understood Appleberry. Over.” Magnolia said.

“Request granted, Arch.” Appleberry said, and she could almost hear the sigh in his voice. “Good luck. Over.”

“The same to you. Arch, over and out.” Magnolia said. As she returned the microphone to its proper place, let out her own sigh, reaching a hand up to rub where she’d been shot. It was mostly healed, but it still twinged from time to time, more so when she was stressed.

She still needed to talk to Agnès and Yew and everyone else, get them on board with this. They could do it, in theory. Agnès was smart, and Tiz was trained to be stealthy as a sniper. Ringabel was another special forces officer, though he hadn’t said what branch he was in. The only two that worried her were Yew and Edea. Yew was… Well, Yew was Yew. He was smart, and brave, but there were times when Magnolia thought he’d just give up, and he didn’t have a good grip on the importance of stealth.

Edea was much the same in that later regard. She was strong, tough, and fast, but she was loud, and she only followed orders that came from Tiz, and even then, it was with reluctance.

Magnolia needed to be in charge of this mission. This was her area of expertise, her forte. Ringabel could do it, but from the way he’d spoken, he would never lead a mission again.

So Magnolia did the only thing she could. With Edea and Ringabel out, there was no point in calling Tiz and Agnès down from their perch. Instead, she went to the room that they’d celebrated the Hartschild festival in, where she'd left Yew.

There she found Yew, who was trying to wake himself up be reading one of the books he’d brought with him. It wasn’t working very well.

“Hey, Yew?” She asked.

“Mm?” Yew mumbled, sitting up fully and putting the book aside. “What is it? Did Edea and Ringabel finally get caught? ‘Cause I am not going after them.”

“No, it's nothing like that.” Magnolia said with a quick, forced laugh. Yew didn’t notice her stiffness, so Magnolia pressed on. “I just… I want to be with you, and I know Edea and Ringabel and everyone else wants to stay together, and I think I know how, it’d just be… Dangerous. Very, very dangerous.”

Yew frowned for a half second. “More dangerous that what we’ve been doing?” He asked. “Or just, normal dangerous?”

Magnolia sat down opposite him. “I have permission to draft everyone into a scouting division to find wherever that Ba’al came from. But that’d mean going behind enemy lines, with no support. And I can guarantee you that the Empire won't give up the location of the Ba’al’s home base without a fight.” 

“And if we do that, what, they’ll keep us together?” Yew asked.

“You four, and maybe Ringabel will have to go through Ba’al Buster training. It’ll be a few weeks before you’re allowed on mission.” She said.

“So, we’d be like you?” Yew asked. “Ba’al Busters?”

“Yes, but to get there…”

“We’d do it.” Yew said. “We’re a team now. We’ll stick together. Nad…” Yew flushed as he spoke his next words. “I want to be with you too.”

Magnolia smiled at that, pulling Yew in for a kiss. For a few moments, She was just Magnolia, unworried, free of the weight of the war. But as they broke apart, that weight returned, as did Magnolia Arch, Ba’al Buster. 

She was ready to take on the Empire, though, for once, her reasons were her own. She wasn’t going out because that’s what she had been ordered. She was going out because she’d found something with Yew, something she wanted to cling too. She was going out because she’d found something in her friendships with Ringabel and Tiz and Edea, and with the woman they were all content to follow, Agnès.

“We can do this.” She said to Yew, though she was trying to convince herself more than anything.

“Of course we can.” Yew said, with no doubt shading his words. “We’ve got you.”

**Author's Note:**

> What fun. Another one done, and another will follow, through probably not as fast. This'll be edited eventually, so just wait.
> 
> If Ringabel is out of character, sorry, I never really played the original Bravely, so I'm just kinda improvising his character from what I've read (his nerdy side will come out late, don't you worry)
> 
> Cheers everyone


End file.
